Robert Borden
"Our hearts are united in inflexible determination that the cause for which we have drawn the sword shall be maintained to honour and triumph." - Sir Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden GCMP KC PC (26, June, 1854 - 10, June, 1937) was a British author, banker, diplomat, lawyer and politician. During his career Borden was appointed President of Barclays Bank of Canada, and Crown Life Insurance Company, elected Chancellor of McGill University & Queen's University, inducted into St. Andrew's Lodge No.1 as a Freemason, and served as third Minister of Foreign Affairs, twentieth President of Her Majesty's Privy Council and eighth Prime Minister of Canada. Borden's administration practiced economic and military solidarity with the British Empire during the First World War by dedicating the extent of Canada's available resources to the King's service, deploying the Canadian Expeditionary Force and opposing reciprocity between Canada and the United States. Borden personally established the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which he deployed during the First World War and the Jewish Revolution in Russia, introduced the Income War Tax Act of 1917 ''and ''Civil Service Act of 1918, ''signed the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919'' and the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.' ' Biography Early Life Robert Borden was born on 26, June, 1854 at Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia to Andrew Borden, a farmer, planter, and stationmaster, and his wife Eunice Borden (née Laird.) He was the first of four children, including: Henry, John and Julia, in addition to two half-siblings, Thomas and Sophia. Borden began his education at the local Presbyterian Sunday School, where he developed English literacy and became immersed in Biblical scripture. His tutor James Hamilton instructed his studies in arithmetic, grammar, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and natural philosophy. During this period his interest in poetry was piqued, particularly in Augustan literary classics such as Horace and Virgil. Before the age of fourteen Borden was a talented polyglot and voracious reader. Though throughout his childhood Robert toiled on the family farm, however, his dissatisfaction with the profession and preoccupation with academic pursuits precipitated his decision to pursue a career as an educator, and this prompted his tutor to employ him as an assistant instructor at the age of fifteen. He continued his tenure at the Academy for four years, until Hamilton invited him to join the faculty of the Glenwood Institute as a professor of classic literature and mathematics. Prime Minister of Canada World War I Foreign Policy Borden's personal attendance of the Paris Peace Conference as a representative of the British delegation from Canada displayed the country's rising status at the time, as part of the British Empire and on the international stage. During the conference Borden acted as an intermediary between the United States and the Dominions of Australia & New Zealand, to negotiate the governance of territorial mandates and naval reduction in the Pacific. In 1919, Borden met with Prime Minister David Lloyd George to discuss the status of colonies and territories in British Honduras and the West Indies, particularly the Turks & Caicos Islands, and the possibility of consolidating administrative power over them in the federal government of the Dominion of Canada, however, the idea never came to fruition and was eventually abandoned. Immigration Trivia * Borden was multilingual and fluent in English, Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Gallery